Presentation for the 2nd seminar day:

Homework from the 2nd lecture:

Minna Canth (1844-1897)

Minna Canth was a Finnish writer and social activist. She worked to improve women's rights and she was also one of the most influential Finnish people at the time. As a writer, Canth published writings which also addressed social issues.

Minna Canth has own day in 19th of March in Finnish calendar. It is Canth's birthday and Canth is the first Finnish woman who has received her own flag day. The day is known also as the day of social equality in Finland.

Minna Canth is an inspiration for me. Being a woman role model in 19th century might not be the easiest thing, but persons like Minna Canth have played an important role that we have this kind of equality in Finland today. Finnish women have received right to vote in 1906 and in 1926 women had the same rights for government jobs than men. Equality is important part of social sustainability and Canth have done remarkable job to improve genders’ equality in Finland.

As a Finnish woman, I am used to the equality of women and men and sometimes take it for granted. However, it should be remembered that unfortunately this is not the case in everywhere around the world.

Homework from the 3rd lecture:

Examples of sustainability education

I was in a student exchange in Michigan Technological University in the fall 2014 and I noticed the University had opportunities to familiarize with sustainability. The University is offering the Graduate Certificate in Sustainability which allows students to combine elements of sustainability in their studies. The University offers a wide range of different programs such as civil engineering, applied ecology, environmental engineering and forestry in which the understanding about sustainability would be very useful.

I think sustainability education is very important in the context of a technological university. Integrating the engineering and technology of industrial ecology for example to the science of environment, economics or human behavior is very important in order to make the world more sustainable. Engineers are in an important role developing technological innovations, for example in creating products which are more environmental friendly. Combining the concept of sustainability to the engineering studies would benefit the whole society in a form of more sustainable solutions. Michigan Tech reminded me much about LUT and I was happy to see that other technological universities are also offering sustainability studies.

However, I think that the sustainability education is important for all of the people regardless of the level of education. Sustainability should be presented earlier in the education, so that even children understand the main idea of the concept. Sustainability could be taught in a elementary school with some kind of simulations for example.